Scarcity of lower denomination naira notes

Some traders in Lagos on Monday appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria to ease their transactions with customers by injecting lower denomination naira notes into the system. The traders, in separate interviews with theNews Agency of Nigeria, said the dearth of lower naira notes was affecting the volume of their business activities. A stall owner at Ayobo Market, Mrs. Ayisat Bello, said the major problem she had been facing in the last three months was the dearth of lower denomination notes.

“All I get from my customers are N1,000 and N500 notes, even when they buy little things like soap and biscuits. Getting ‘change’ is a headache because I don’t have enough lower denomination currency notes. My  business is really being affected,” she complained.

A grocer at Iyana Ipaja, Mrs. Ada Nwachukwu, said she had to turn down customers many times because of no ‘change’ to give them.

“Honestly, it is painful that I turn down customers because of this problem. Customers bring N1,000 to purchase N100 worth of items and you search your purse only to be seeing higher denomination notes. You ask your fellow traders for ‘change’ and they complain of the same problem,” she said.

Nwachukwu urged the CBN to do something about it by injecting enough lower denomination notes into the system.

A trader in Agege, Mrs. Peculiar Adetu, said she was forced to buying lower denomination notes at the motor park to address the problem.

She said though the idea had helped, it made her incur additional cost that reduced her profit margin.

She said, “I buy lower denomination currencies at the Agege Motor Park so that I don’t have to be running helter-skelter looking for ‘change’ to attend to my customers.

“The idea is working well but at a cost. Passing the cost to the customers will make the items of my competitors cheaper. The customers will go elsewhere to make their purchase. So, I bear the extra cost.”

A civil servant, Mr. Abayomi Taofeek, said he often had problems with ‘change’ when making purchases.

He said he had been turned down by traders several times and had to forgo his ‘change’ on one or two occasions.

According to him, the problem manifests more when someone wants to board commercial vehicle and has no lower denomination currency.

“The first thing you hear the conductors say is: ‘Enter with your change o’. If you do not have lower denomination notes, you will stay at the bus stop for eternity,” he said.

Source: Punch